Catholic Health, a health system serving the Long Island area of New York, has 16,000 employees in six acute care hospitals, three nursing homes, one home health service, and hospice. and an extensive network of doctors.
PROBLEM
The healthcare system is preparing for a revenue cycle transformation, with an emphasis on the Epic Revenue Cycle as the core technology. It knows that means new opportunities to engage patients digitally and modernize the financial experience for patients.
The patient experience is at the core of Catholic Health’s vision, and the organization understands that digitizing revenue cycle operations is necessary to be part of that strategic portfolio.
“As an organization, we did not collect a significant percentage of our prepayments for services,” said Jade Wanzek, assistant vice president of patient outreach revenue cycles. patient, or have access to technology that supports operational processes.
He added: “We have made an effort to inform patients in advance about the cost of their care, but it has been inconsistently managed. “We want to be able to collect additional prepayments for services and do this while providing patients with a clear understanding of their costs.”
SUGGESTIONS
Catholic Health was on Epic’s electronic health record and decided to implement Epic’s Revenue Cycle. It needs a payment provider that can support the health system’s collection goals and provide additional options for electronic payments.
“Our single payments office also needed a payments solution that could help with the transition from our legacy payment system to Epic,” explains Wanzek. “InstaMed can integrate with Epic to deliver an efficient and engaging financial experience for patients from pre-service to invoicing and payment.
He continued: “Integrating InstaMed will give us the ability to receive payments in the pre-service workflow, as well as save encrypted payments for future visits and operations. action of the SBO”. “The integration will also allow us to create payment plans for patients with higher balances and collect and post those payments automatically without manual effort on the part of our staff. “
“We now view pre-service experience as more than just a way to gather demographic information. It’s a strategic approach to our revenue cycle operations and complements to vision of our organization.”
Jade Wanzek, Catholic Health Service
Ultimately, the InstaMed integration will deliver a safe and easy checkout experience for patients in MyChart, he added.
“Integrating the payment page outside of InstaMed will allow patients to make credit card and bank account payments within MyChart while keeping sensitive data off our servers,” he explains. , which will help us minimize PCI coverage”. “MyChart integration is not only [satisfy patients]but will also help improve collection efficiency for our patients. “
CHALLENGE MIX ONLY
InstaMed technology has been integrated into Catholic Health’s financial billing center operations to engage patients in pre-service collection and financial planning. As a result, pre-service collections and patient education are now core components of Catholic Health’s financial billing functions.
“We’ve combined our real-time qualifying solution with Epic and InstaMed estimators for an end-to-end best practice process for price estimation,” notes Wanzek. “When it is determined that a patient is responsible for paying $50 or more, our financial payments team will review the patient’s benefit structure and notify the patient.
“When the patient is a known ‘digital user’, our team uses Epic’s digital communication methods such as email, MyChart and SMS to notify the patient that the estimate is The price is ready for review,” he continued.
“After delivering the estimate, our financial billing officer contacted the patient with a phone call and offered to explain more about how their benefits apply and ask for collection.”
Staff may make payments if the patient agrees to pay at that time. InstaMed integration allows employees to securely lock payments into Epic or use an external payment site to accept payments.
“If a patient expresses concern about a high payment amount in a pre-service chat, our financial billing officer will recommend a payment option that is more appropriate to the patient’s financial situation. patients,” Wanzek said.
“During this conversation, we can clearly discuss payment amounts and planning periods with the patient and establish payment methods for automatic deductibles.
“This step ensures that patients understand their financial responsibility and helps them feel more comfortable with the payment amount,” he added. “Once the patient has agreed to a payment plan, we can set up a traditional installment plan or use Epic Auto Pay to set up automatic payments.”
InstaMed integration within Epic allows these payments to be automatically collected and posted, allowing payment plans to run without manual effort from employees. Whether or not the patient pays any pre-service payments, Catholic Health lays the groundwork for post-service payments by engaging patients early on.
RESULT
Prior to InstaMed, Catholic Health did not collect significant amounts of upfront payments to patients. Employees can now easily and securely receive payments during their pre-service interactions with patients, Wanzek said.
He added: “This integrated patient finance experience resulted in over $1 million in service dollars in just the first year of solution implementation.
Pre-service conversations with patients have allowed staff to discuss payment plans with patients concerned about higher balances. The technology makes it easier for staff to set up pre-service payment plans for this patient, which has resulted in a 50% increase in payment plans created, Wanzek reported.
“As a result, we saw a 112% increase in installment volume, up $1.3 million year-over-year,” he said.
He added that the integration of InstaMed’s external payment site with MyChart has enabled Catholic Health to provide patients with a secure and convenient self-service online payment option.
“We have seen an increase in MyChart transaction and settlement volume between 2020 and 2021: Total payments increased by 27.5%, while transaction volume increased by 27.5%,” he said. epidemic increased by 28%”.
TIPS FOR OTHER PEOPLE
“Implementing new technology gives any organization a great opportunity to rethink traditional operating models. Technology should be a springboard for breaking holes and reinventing the way models are. core business model provides value,” advised Wanzek.
He added: “For example, we now view pre-service experience as more than just a way to gather demographic information. It’s a strategic approach to revenue cycle activity and complement the organization’s vision”. “Don’t just add new technology without taking the opportunity to evaluate your business as a whole.”
Twitter: @SiwickiHealthIT
Email the writer: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
